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Our Duty to the African Race. 



AN a.ddre:©s 



Delivered at Washington, D. C. 



Jaiiiiary Ql, 1851, 



BY 



R^IOHA-JiilJ FULLER. 



BALTIMORE: 

PRINTED BY W. M. TNNES, 

ADAMS EXPRESS BUILDING. 

1851. 



. FU 3 



^ll<\\ 



'or 



Washington-, D. C, Jamuiry 21, 1851. 

The Colonization Society met in the Presbyterian Church. A vast audience crowded 
every spot in the building — multitudes unable to gain admission. Mr. Clay presided for 
the last time. He delivered a noble speech, and then introduced Rev. Dr. Fuller, who 
spoke as follows : 



ADDRESS. 



Mr. President and Fellow Citizens — 

An humble pastor, occupied with the spiritual cares and lal)ors of my 
ministry in Baltimore, I have declined all iuvitatious to visit other cities 
ior the purpose of addressing public meetings. I have found the duties of 
my charge enough, and more than enough, for all my time. As I am not 
a member of any Colonization Society, I ■was somewhat surprised on re- 
ceiving the kind request of 3'Our board to meet with you to-night. I felt 
and appreciated the honor done me. But I felt much more: I esteemed 
it a call from God to enlist myself in an enterprise, the importance, the 
grandeur, nay, I will say the absolute necessity, of which, ought, I hum- 
bly think, to be perceived by every citizen of this Union. I ask permis- 
sion, therefore, to express myself with the utmost freedom, as I utter only 
my own sentiments, and speak for no particular Society, — but for Colo- 
nization at large. 

I am a Southern man, and surely your Society ought to be as popular 
with the whole South as it is in Virginia, Georgia, and other Southern 
States. It was originated by Southern influence. Its object is the re- 
tromission to Africa of free colored persons who desire to go thcra. To 
this article of its constitution your Society has strictly adhered. Indeed, 
it is absurd to suppose that this article can ever be violated. Why then 
should any man at the South object to this undertaking? And is it not 
most strange that men at the North should proclaim themselves the friends 
of the African race, and yet resist and calumniate an association formed 
for such a purpose? 

Mr. President, patriotism was once a word of high and holy import. It 
was, in the ancient States of Greece, a sort of religion, a loyalty to coun- 
try, which mastered and controlled all other feelings. All other relations — 
of parent, and husband, and child — were subordinated to the relation 
which existed between the citizen and the State. Patriotism was once a 
term of glorious emphasis. Would that it had the same sublime meaning 



now; it would enlist multitudes in your noble enterprise. But Jesus has 
shown us a higher duty, than even that which a patriot owes to his coun- 
try. It is our duty to man as man. Before the Saviour's advent patriot- 
ism was the chief virtue; he taught us philanthrophy. As far as we catch 
his spirit and embody it in our benevolence, so fer, I humbly conceive, 
shall we have the blessing of Him who has all power in his hands to pros- 
per or defeat our plans. And it is to the Christian philanthropist that 
Colonization is an object of the profoundest interest. 

I wish, first to consider the subject before us, with reference to the col- 
ored population in the United States who are free. I ask what is to be 
done with them and for them? What plan can compare with yours, which 
opens for them a laud of promise, and this not a laud wrested from stran- 
gers, but the very country assigned to their^race by God. 

Why. sir, if we look merely at what is physical, how deSiirable such a 
change for the African. The climate of Africa is far more congenial to 
his nature than that of the Northern States. And in these States what 
are his prospects? Each wave Is wafting to our shores thousands upon 
thousands of hardy emigrants, with whom the negro cannot compote ; white 
men who are preferred, and who, moreover, have been inured to an inde- 
fatigableness of labor, a severity of diet, a thrift and parsimony, which the 
negro cannot, or will not endure. No one can now visit any of the North- 
ern cities, after an absence of ten years, without being struck with the 
fact, that the German and Irishman have superseded, or are superseding, 
the colored man in every occupation by which the laboring classes procure 
a livelihood. 

But, in my estimate, the physical evils to which one may be exposed 
by any disadvantages are nothing compared with the moral evils ; and in 
this view, is there a friend of the free colored man who can advise him to 
remain in this country, when such prospects open to him in another? 

Fanatics may r^ve, recite, and madden round the land, and expectorate 
rhapsodies about color being no crime. Nobody says it is a crime. It does, 
however, and it always will, form a distinction of caste, the barriers of 
which cannot be broken down. The African may be rich, may educate 
his family, may have a vote, but all this will only awaken him to a more 
painful consciousness of his abasement. He never will enjoy social equal- 
ity with the white race in this country. He and his posterity will be, and 
will always feel themselves to be, a degraded people. 

And now, who but sees the sad consequences, the moral evils, of this 
felt degradation. In the first place, such a condition of conscious inferi- 
ority must impair, if it does not wholly destroy, all self-respect. No man 
will long resist the power of testimony, when it is the testimony of all 



around him ; and what is the testimony which is uttered in society, every- 
where, with reference to the African ? How can he rise superior to that 
public opinion which he sees, apd hears, and feels, every moment, in the 
conduct of everybody ? He lives and moves and has his being amidst 
humiliation. His whole life is a life of humiliation. His spirit will cower 
and sink. He cannot recognize in himself what every body denies him. 
He may struggle on, but he cannot elevate himself above the class with 
which he is identified. He will estimate himself by the estimation in 
which he is held by others. ^ 

In the next place, what chance have the colored free population in this 
country to develop the powers of intellect which God has bestowed upon 
them ? Many, I know, deny to the African the possession of powers 
which can by any cultivation raise him to an intellectual equality with the 
white man. But to this objection there are several satisfactory answers. 

B'irst, such an argument can be received only in the school of infideli- 
ty; for the* Bible declares that the whole human family have sprung 
from a common parentage. Then, when and where have Christianity and 
civilization and education given the black man a fair trial '( Certainly not 
in the British West Indies ; . for there the negroes are little better than 
slaves still. Not in St. Domingo, where misplaced confidence in other and 
older nations has cor.stantly been fomenting civil disorder. Nor in these 
United States, for in not one of them does the colored man feel nor can 
he ever feel, the stimulus to intellectual cultivation. 

The most conclusive answer to this objection, however, is furnished by 
a simple fact. T refer to the Republic of Liberia, which, though but of 
yesterday, has already commanded the respect of the oldest cabinets of 
Europe, and has taken her place among the nations. The state papers of 
that young Republic seem to me 'to compare well enough with similar 
documents here. And the last message of her governor is really superior 
in good sense, and talent, and literary merit, to such communications 
sometimes emanating from the executive departments of our States. 

I think no impartial person will deny to the African powers of intellect, 
which, if cultivated, would raise him to an equality with other men. But 
these faculties can never be unfolded in this country. Can he look for- 
ward to the future with hope ? Is the Bar, the Pulpit, the Medical Chair, 
open to him ? Will he ever be permitted to take his seat in Congress, 
and aspire to the offices and honors which this nation bestows ? In a 
word, and what is of more importance than all to the expansion of the 
mind, can he ever feel the quickening, invigorating influence of the high- 
est literary society ? To propose these questions is to answer them And 
how sad a misfortune to a rational being, that, in himself aud his posterity, 
all the noble powers of intellect must be forever crushed. 



6 

I meution only a single other, but very sore, calamity of the free 
\ colored people in this country. They are not only an inferior caste, 
but a separate and distinct race ; and are in daily contact with a 
people who enjoy, beyond all people, the very advantages which are denied 
to them. Let a man be a white man, and, in this country, he need not 
look up to any one as his superior by birth. There is no appointment, 
no honor, no eminence, to which he may not elevate himself. The 
proudest places in the land have been, and are, adorned by men who 
have been the architects of their own greatness, winning their way amidst 
a thousand obstacles, by the patient force of a true heart and unconquera. 
ble will. All this the black man knows and sees. He sees and knows, 
too, that it his color only, that color given him by God, which excludes 
him and his posterity from this noble and ennobling competition. And 
now, what must be the effect upon his character ? It is impossible but 
that the worst feelings, envy, hatred, vindictiveness, will secretly work in 
his bosom, I'endering him unhappy in himself, and dangerous to the coun- 
try. Already have we had fearful premonitions flashing up here and 
there ; and rest assured, nothing but fear represses the utterance, deep 
and loud, of passions, which are only the more fierce, because, as yet, 
they can have no vent. If the free African is to remain in this country, 
he must either enjoy social equality and amalgamate with the white race, 
which is impossible, or he will be discontented, unhappy, and will be ulti- 
mately exterminated. He would not be fit for freedom, he would not be 
a man, if he could be satisfied with his position. 

Up to this point, Mr. President, I have confined my remarks to the 
colored population who are free. If this enterprise contemplated only 
them, it would be most wise, and patriotic and benevolent. I was glad, 
the other day, to see that State in which I first drew breath, and which 
must ever be dear to me — I was glad to see South Carolina rejecting a 
proposition to drive her free colored people from her borders. I hope she 
will yet unite with Georgia, and Tennessee, and Virginia, and my adopted 
State, Maryland, in the great work of transporting that portion of our 
population, with their consent, to a congenial home. 

All good men, Mr. President, have mourned that this metropolis is so 
often the scene of wrath, bitterness, malice and strife, among those who 
are descended from such ancestors as the founders of this commonwealth, 
who are bound together by such ties, and ought to love as brethren. liCt 
us rejoice that to-night all is peace and love here — love to God, to each 
other, and to the whole human race — that to-night we are gathered, not 
on an arena for sectional contests and conflicts, but in a temple where, 
with one heart and one mind, we wish to consult for the success of an 
enterprise, whose moral grandeur turns into contempt all the petty and 

— l>-.":"—>l r,i,«o(-;r,r.c rnf colfigTi i'nfrio-iip nnd nnlitiffil nmbition. 



7 

I wish, DOW, to speak of colonizatioa witli reference to another class of 
Africans. I allude to those who are slaves, but whom the master may de- 
sire to send to Liberia or some other asylum. I am a Southern man. In 
the providence of God a number of these people have been confided to 
me. I may, therefore speak on the subject. I deeply deplore the mis- 
chief which has been done by the fanatical agitation of this great question 
at the North. Even Dr. Channing says of the abolitionists, "They have 
done wrong, I believe; nor is their wrong to be winked at because done 
fanatically, or with good intentions; for how much mischief may be 
wrought with good designs I They have fallen into tlie common error of 
enthusiasts, that of exaggerating their object, of feeling as if no evil 
existed but that which they opposed, and as if no guilt could be compared 
with that of countenancing and upholding it. The tone of their news- 
papers, as far as I liave seen them, has often been fierce, bitter, and abu- 
sive." 

While, however, I speak thus of Northern fanaticism, I must be per- 
mitted to say, that I think there is a morbid sensitiveness at the South v 
with reference to slavery. It was not so once. You remember, sir, when 
it was not so. We have documents showing that religious bodies, and po- 
litical bodies, in the Slave States, used formerly to discuss the subject 
freely. And we at the South ought still to discuss it. While we repel 
all impertinent intermeddling, we owe it to ourselves not to allow such im- 
pertinence to move us from a calm, generous, and conscientious discharge 
of our duty. And if such measures were adopted by Congress, as a wise, 
just, benovolent government ought, in my judgment, to adopt, I am confi- "^ 
dent there are multitudes in the Southern States who would at once throw 
all their influence in favor of Colonization, and bring to the cause a noble 
spirit of disinterestedness and sacrifice. 

Mr. President, I sincerely hope that, after the late storm, the tendency 
of the political elements is to repose. When Chancellor Oxenstiern's son 
declined a place in the councils of Sweden, on account of his inexperience, 
that sagacious old statesman said, " Go see, quam parva sapientia regitur 
mundus." Go see, by how little wisdom the world is governed. And wc 
must remember this proverb. The speeches delivered in Congress and 
our State Legislatures, are not always true exponents of the calm good 
sense, the conservatism and patriotism of the people. In spite of certain "^ 
symptoms and presages, I hope that the late crisis has passed. Nobody, 
however, can suppose that the danger to this Union has passed. The true 
peril is one which politicians, I fear, overlook. It is in the religious con- ^. 
victions and sentiments of the entire North with reference to slavery. Even 
if a statesman were an infidel, he must remember that the people are not. 



8. 

The Bible is tlie lex legjim, the hiw of law^. and must ultimately decide all 
controversies in this country. Politics is the science of compromises, but 
I'eiigion allows no compromise with evil. And there will be a deep and 
deepening feeling at the North, a consequent resentment at the South, and 
a growing estrangement between North and South, until something is done 
to meet the religious sentiments connected with slavery. As a political 
question, slavery has in it nothing very exciting or alarming. But we are 
a religious people, and slavery is, and will ever be, a subject of intense re- 
ligious feeling. 

Now, viewing slavery in the light of religion, it seems to me there are 
some point« which the North ought seriously to ponder. 

First, the South are not responsible for the introduction of negroes into 
this country. It was in spite of the solemn protestations of many of the 
Colonics. In the next place, the African has been vastly improved, in 
every physical view, by his transplantation. The African here is an entirely 
superior animal to the African on his native continent. And as to com- 
forts, I speak from personal observation, when I say that, with a kind 
master, the slave population are more happy, and contented, and better 
cared for than a large portion of the laboring classes in Europe. The 
other morning I had to leave Baltimore for Washington before daylight. 
I left my servants in warm beds, with no idea of rising before the sun, and 
then to be clad as warmly as myself, and to fore as I fiire. I met near the 
Depot an Irishman, who, though the morning was bitter, stood thinly clad, 
and shivering with cold. Upon inquiring, I found that he regarded him- 
self as uncommonly fortunate in securing the place he filled in connection 
with the rail-road. He was enabled, he said, to pay his rent monthly, to 
buy his fuel, and to supply his family with food. But, to do this, he had 
to be at his post every day, the Sabbath not excepted, by three o'clock in 
the morning, and to be occupied till night. An overcoat was a luxury of 
which he never thought. When I compared the lot of this man wnth that 
of a slave whose master is kind, I felt that no friend of humanity, looking 
only to his physical condition, would wish the negro to change places with 
this laborer. 

It is, however, the religious bles.sings enjoyed by the African in this 
country which are the most important. And upon this point let me state 
what I believe to be a fact clearly ascertained. At all the Missionary Sta- 
tions together there are, at this time, about 56,000 professed converts from 
Paganism to Christianity. The Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist 
Churches, in the Slave States, contain about 350,000 colored members. 
If these Africans had remained in their native land, probably not one of 
them would ever have heard the sound of the Gospel. By their trans- 



portation to this country, five times as many souls are to-day believers in 
Jesus Christ, as are to be found in all the Missionary Churches together. 

These facts all candid men at the North must admit, and they ought 
surely to silence much of that clamor which has been raised about the 
abominations of slavery. But, now, while the North ought to admit all 
this, there are some things which we at the South ought also candidly to 
admit. T know, sir, that man is fallen, and that he would not be fallen if 
he at once opened his eyes to unwelcome truths. But, after all, T might 
confidently ask our statesmen, if they can travel at the North and 
South, without feeling that while slavery enriches the individual, it im- 
poverishes and desolates the State, and fosters indolence and luxury, vices 
which have ever been the bane of nations? T might shew that in case 
of invasion by a free people, slavery would not be to us an element 
of strength, as has been affirmed, but woiild be — what it was to the 
Roman Empire under the inroads of the Northmen — a source of 
weakness, perplexity and danger. I might appeal to every Christian, 
whether, when God says ''Search the Script arfs/' the human mind ought 
to be shut up from reading those Scriptures? AVhether, when Jesus says 
" What God hath joined together let not man put asimder," the marriage tic 
ought to be dissolved ? I might inquire of every upright man, whether 
labor ought not to be compensated ? In a conversation with that orna- 
ment of his country, the late Mr. Calhoun, he expressed the opinion that 
we do pay fair wages. I will not go into the calculation. It is the prin- 
ciple with which I have to do. In short, to a generous soul, perfect de- 
pendence is an irresistible plea for protection ; and, left to their own free, 
innate, generous impulses, I hope that Southern planters are the very men 
to admire and imitate the Antonines and other Roman Emperors, who be- 
came guardians of the slaves, and extended over them a paternal govern- 
ment. 

I will not, however, insist on these points. The only concession 1 now 
urge is one which I made some years ago, when writing to Dr. Way land, 
and against which I heard scarcely an objection. It is, that slavery is not 
good thing, and a thing to be perpetuated. I believe, sir, there are few 
at the South who would hesitate about making this concession, and, if this 
concession were made, might not this great nation interpret and under- 
stand itself? Would it not be oil upon the waters, a bow of promise in 
our troubled sky ? Might we not hope that an equilibrium would be 
restored in our political atmosphere, and the dangerous clouds now lowei- 
ing in our horizon be forever buried in the deep bosom of the ocean ? 

If these concessions were made at the North and South ; if, in one 
quarter, fanaticism would cease to denounce every slaveholder as a mons- 
2 



10 

ter of iniquity ; aud if, in another quarter, tanaticism would cease to ad- 
vocate the perpetuation of slavery as a blessing, it seems to me that a 
middle ground, a platform of peace and brotherly feeling might be found, 
upon which all good men could meet, and, in the spirit of a large and 
generous philanthropy, consult as to the duty of the Anglo-Saxon race to- 
wai'ds this other race who are now among them. The question is certainly 
a most delicate and difficult one. False as are many of Machiavelli's doc- 

^ trines, he uttered a profound truth when he said, that " To niake a servile 
people free is as dljfindt as to mahe a free people slaves." 

So far, we at the South, who are seeking earnestly to know our duty, 
can see no change, contemplating the residence of such a vast number of 
Africans amongst us, which we regard as worthy of our attention. Nay, 
we see none which we do not consider most calamitous to both races. If 
the large and increasing black population at the South are to stay there, 
it must be as slaves or as masters. In States where there were only a few 
of these people, and where slavery was becoming an expense, laws were 
enacted for the prospective extinction of the institution. Such laws will 
not be passed at the South. Upon our rich lands slave labor is the 
cheapest and most profitable labor, and society would be subverted by the 
manumission of such a multitude belonging to another race. Moreover, if 
any movement is ever made in behalf of the slave, it must be under the 
influence of Christian principle; but all these legislative interpositions 
have been purely political. The object has been to rid the State of an 
evil. Such Acts of Assemblies are really notifications to slaveholders to 
remove their slaves farther South, before a certain period. As a Chris- 
tian, I have no sympathy with any such plans. They overlook the slave, 
and seek the good of the community. They proceed as if man was made 
for the good of society, and not society for the good of man. They re- 
verse the ethics of Jesus Christ, and place patriotism above philanthropy. 
With the Bible in my hands, I feel that a single immortal human being- 
has a nobleness far exceeding that of this whole nation, as a nation; but 
all these enactments regard the human being as little, the State as every- 
thing. 

In looking to the British West Indies, we see notliiug to invite us to 

I imitate the policy there pursued. In fact, I do not regard the experiment 
there as a fair one. The movement there was not a free, spontaneous. 
generous impulse, originating a noble enterprise. It was forced upon the 
masters. Hence, they yielded everything mutinously. And what was 
yielded grudgingly, was received ungraciously, and doggedly, with no grat- 
itude to the masters, but with a feeling of aversion to them, as tyrants who 
had been compelled, by a diatant government, to do this tardy and reluc- 
tant justice. 



11 

For the African iu this country, if he is ever to be liberated and eleva- 
ted, there is but one hope. It is Colonization. I turn, and turn, and 
turn, and see scarcely a ray of light in any other quarter. At a very 
early period I find the State of Virginia applying to the President of the 
United States, to know if a tract of land could be procured on our West- 
ern frontier, as a settlement for the free blacks. Not very long after- 
wards a most able memorial was presented to Congress, seeking the in- 
terposition of the National Government, for the purpose of transporting 
to Africa the free blacks who should wish to go, and others who should 
be manumitted for the purpose of being transferred to some colony.* — 
Other memorials of the same kind have since been presented, and reports 
have been made, but hitherto the great work has been carried on almost 
wholly by individual generosity. The settlement at Liberia is not a Col- 
ony foundjed by a Government ; it is a young nation, reared, and fostered, 
nay, created, chiefly by private Christian philanthropy. 

The time has now come, when we ought not to invoke iu vain the pa- 
tronage of the nation, and the attention of the whole people, to this grand 
enterprise. The power of Congress to make appropriations for such an 
object ca«, I think, be easily established. And shall $300,000,000 be 
lavished in a war about a plat of some few square miles,"]" and justice, hu- 
manity, religion, plead in vain ? Congress has, I suppose, been hitherto 
reluctant to commit the nation to an undertaking, which seemed to many 
a chimerical, Utopian experiment. But this thing is no longer an experi- 
ment. There stands the Republic of Liberia ! And if private benevo- 
lence has achieved so much, what cannot be accomplished by the wisdom 
and resources of this nation. 

I wish, sir, I had time to read letters which were written on this sub- 
ject, by Mr. Jefferson, General Harper, and others, when your Society was 
first organized. These wise men were of one mind. They regarded Col- 
onization by this Government as the only hope for the free colored popu- 
lation. And they went farther. They viewed it as the only solution of 
the great problem now before us with reference to slavery. 

Mr. President, this Society recognizes distinctly the rights of property 
claimed by the South. You remarked, when first, some twenty years ago, 
you took the chair you now fill, and which I hope you may long live to 
adorn, that you and others were members only upon this condition. I am 
a Southern man, and speak as such. In the providence of God I am a 
slaveholder. And it is as a Southern man, and slaveholder, that I feel the 
deepest interest in Colonization. What is to be the end of all this? such 

*See Senate Records, for the proposal of Mr. King to apply the proceeds of the public 
lands to this object. 
tXhe Mexican war. 



12 

is the question which, for years, has been the subject of my most devout 
and prayerful solicitude. Nor can I see, for myself and for hundreds who 
feel as 1 do, any answer, unless Congress shall meet our earnest desires, 
and wisely and nobly employ the power which Congress unquestionably 
possesses. 

The great body of the Southern people prefer, at present, to hold the 
sort of property they now have. And their rights and feelings must be 
most sacredly respected. Surely men ought not to hold office under the 
Constitution, and yet disregard the articles of that instrument which may 
happen to conflict with their views. For such persons duty is plain. — 
Let them seek an amendment of the Constitution. Failing in this, they, 
of course, are involved in no responsibility. People may differ as to the 
language of the Bible with reference to slavery; but there can be no dif- 
ference as to the precepts of the Bible requiring obedience to the laws. 

The rights of the South must be untouched. As to slavery, whatever 
is done must be done by the South. They are responsible to God, and to 
God only. But, sir, there are many at the South who, like myself, are 
willing to make very great sacrifices, if we can see a way open to enlighten, 
and elevate the human beings coiamitted to our care ; and Congress ought 
to be ready to make large appropriations to meet these cases. Such citi- 
zens have a right to expect these appropriations. Year after year, money 
is voted to encourage, and aid, every improvement in the arts and sciences. 
It is nothing to expend thousands upon inventions, not only to benefit, but 
to destroy our race. All sorts of contrivances for exploding gunpowder, 
and projecting the missiles of death, seek and find favor here. Is it not 
time to apply some part of the resources of this Government, to the great- 
est of all improvements, the improvement, of man himself? Surely too, 
such appropriations are due to the slave. This country ought to make 
some reparation to Africa for the wrongs inflicted upon that continent. 

I have said, Mr. President, that many at the South are willing to make 
greater sacrifices than any abolitionist ever has made, or would make, if 
they can thus benefit the slave ; and that the govnrnment ought to co-op- 
erate with such citizens. But, sir, in my humble judgment, this is not 
all which the government ought to do. I venture the opinion, that this 
o-overnment ought to go much farther. I am no statesman, nor politician. 
I am an humble minister of religion, and what I now say may, at first, 
seem like madness to politiciaos and statesmen. But, sir, if it be insani- 
ty, it has come upon me as insanity never comes, by the most calm, pa- 
tient, protracted, and prayerful contemplation of a great subject. Let 
not the thought I throw out with humility, be scouted, then, as wild and 
chimerical, but let it be weighed candidly. 



13 

I am supposing-, sir, that the North sincerely desire the good of the 
slave, and are willing to make sacrifices for that object; but feel the folly 
and mischief of contributions and lectures, since the destiny of the slave 
is entirely in the hands of his master. I am supposing, too, that multi- 
tudes at the South are anxious for the same noble consummation, do not 
desire the perpetuation of slavery, but see only ruin to themselves, and 
their slaves, in any project of emancipation in their power. 

Now, sir, supposing such a state of things to exist, and I believe it 
does exist to an extent of which we have no conception, could not the 
national legislation be adapted most wisely, and with the happiest results, 
to such an emergency? Sir, I am not given to circumlocution and indi- 
rection, when I have any thing to say; and what I mean is this. It seems 
to me, that the salvation of this Union, a sacred duty to Africa, peace, • 
harmony, love, and justice, all invoke the interposition of the nation, not 
only to deport, but to redeem the slaves of those who are willing thus to 
enter into a vast, and tedious, but most glorious enterprise. 

To any such scheme I know a fiery fanaticism w^ill oppose itself, ex- 
claiming, "It will be acknowledging the master's right!'' But is this 
friendship to the African? The right, the power, exists. No earthly 
power can destroy it. And is not the liberation and happiness of a single 
human being, of more consequence than the discussion of an abstract and 
useless dogma? I put out of view the fact, that multitudes of the slaves 
were originally purchased from Northern men, who imported them into 
the Southern harbors. I ask these objectors a single question. Admit, 
as you say, (a calumny which I deny and detest) that we are robbers. If 
your child was in the hands of robbers, would you refuse to redeem it? 
Would you harangue about the right of the robber, and allow your child 
to remain a captive ?* 

So unhealthy an excitement exists at the South that there, too, any 
such project will at first find much opposition. And, of course, as far as 
the South objects, nothing can be done; for, I repeat it over and over, no 
tampering with our rights will be permitted. But would such opposition 
be reasonable ? 

First, we at the South are constantly asserting the right of each indi- 
vidual to do what he will with his own, provided he do not interfere with 
others. And the exportation of my slaves would really benefit my 
neighbor. But this is little. The interests, the preservation, of the 
South, require that some such channel be one day 02)ened, and a draining 
commenced. 

*This Government has redeemed captives, I allude to the Algerine prisoners. 



14 

See! Slave territority is uow strictly circumscribed. The slaves are 
rapidly increasing. At some future day Texas and the slave States, will 
be overstocked. What then? Why, then State after State will have to 
protect itself against the introduction of negroes. AVhat then '/ Within 
the borders of each State, the African will multiply, until the land shall 
groan under the load ; and, instead of a Bill to recover fugitive slaves, 
the difficulty will be to recover fugitive masters. The North, I am con- 
fident, do not desire to see the South thus ruined. If we at the South do 
not perceive this approaching evil, we are blind. If we see it, and, either 
Ij^ secession, or opposition, defeat all attempts to anticipate and prevent it, 
we are worse than blind, we are infatuated. 

Looking, then, only to the interest of the South, I say, ' Venienti occur- 
r'lte morho! Meet the disease while it is coming on! And do not meet 
it with opiates, still less, with stimulants. Let no one, however, suppose 
that I am speaking only for the South. I am pleading for man and for 
God; and I look mainly to this scheme, for the ultimate liberation and 
elevation of the African.* The Gospel is abroad, and is everywhere 
triumphing. That Gospel rebukes the madness of sudden and violent 
movements in such a cause. The Gospel is love. This love is now alter- 
ing the relation between master and slave. It will gradually melt off all 
servile bonds, and cause the master to desire to let the slave go free. And 
what a blessing to have a benignant government, ready to second the 
wishes of the master, and to become the guardian of the slave. 

Such a plan would daily make converts among christians. The North, 
with a large and constantly increasing co-operation from the South, and 
finally with the whole South, would be united in the sublimest enterprise 
which ever employed the wisdom and power of a great empire. And 
though the pioneers in this cause at the South might have to encounter 
much not easy to be borne; yet the consciousnes of duty discharged can 
sustain a man in much; God can support and console a man in all. 
Future generations would honor the memory of such persons; and in them 
would be fulfilled the language of the Saviour, 'The Fathers persecuted 
the prophets, the children build their tombs and garnish their sepulchres.' 

I feel, Mr. President, that I owe on apology for the length to which I 
have gone, unconscious to myself, though I fear not without the conscious- 
ness of this audience, crowded as it is, and many of them standing. I 
have said nothing of the vast resources and the commerce of Africa. I 

*I do not suppose that' the two races can ever be entirely separated. Many may remain 
as free laborers. We must, too, never overlook the shameful but glaring fact, that, while 
legitimate amalgamation is out of the question, the two races are amalgamating everywhere 
throughout the country, especially in the slave States, by illicit intercourse, and the 
Ethiopian is thus changing his skin. 



15 

have not alluded to the able report of a distinguished member of Con- 
gress now present, with reference to a line of steamers to Africa. The 
days of miracles are past, but God can open the sea to facilitate His 
purposes. Nor have I mentioned the slave trade, which can be more ^ 
effectually suppressed by (^'olouizatiou than by the combined navies of 
Great Britain, France and America. 

If I could bring the minds of those present, especially if 1 could secure 
your attention, and that of other statesmen whom I see before me, to the 
subject which presses upon me, I should thank God and take courage. 
Perhaps what I have suggested will be regarded as the dream of a vision- 
ary. In the popular vocabulary, wisdom and foll}^ often mean the compli- . 
ance or non-compliance of our views, not with truth, but with public 
opinion. Hence, the first insurrection of the human mind against any 
usurpation of society, is always regarded as insanity. ''^4 strange man 
uttering strange things!" people say of him who first differs from the mass 
around him. But if the strange things, uttered by that strange man, be 
true things, they will not be lost. No testimony, however feeble, if for 
great principles, can wholly be lost. It will awaken an echo somewhere. 
And I am persuaded that what I have spoken to-night, with great difli- 
deuce, and with the sympathy of, perhaps, only a few of this multitude, 
will, one day, be regarded, not as the chinaera of an enthusiast, but as the 
language of soberness and truth. And, though what 1 have proposed 
would require a vast expenditure and many years, perhaps centuries, yet 
money and time are nothing in so glorious a work. Why, sir, the interest 
on the national debt of England for ten years would purchase every slave 
in this country at a fair value. And, as to time, chronic evils demand 
chronic remedies. God has admonished us, by his own conduct, that all 
great works demand time and patience. In creation, in redemption, he 
proceeded slowly. It is only little and contracted and foolish men who 
hope to do an3^thing in a hurry. 

In conclusion, whatever we do, let us do it with faith • faith in God; faith 
in ourselves; faith in our cause. No element in human conduct con- 
tributes more to success than confidence of succeeding. By faith Leonidas 
fought and fell at Thermopylaj; and his heroic devotion made Greece in- 
vincible. By faith Columbus stood intrepid on the deck of a frail bark, 
while around him all was discouragement and mutiuj^. By faith he saw 
an unknown laud and resolved to reach it. Alexander wept for another 
world to conquer, but his tears availed not. The faith of Columbus re- 
vealed that other world. It sustained him as he journeyed from court to 
court, seeking sympathy and aid in his glorious scheme. And when at 
midnight, on a stormy sea, the entire crew, and all the officers of his ship, 



16 

demanded the abandonmeut of a voyage which seemed so utterly hope- 
less, what but an inextinguishable faith still cheered him, and assured him 
that in three days his toils would be crowned with success ? What would 
have been the fate of this nation, amidst the struggles of the Revolution, 
had not faith sustained our forefathers ? And thus it ever is. The timid 
and weak believe not, because they see not. The great are great, they 
conquer, because they believe. Faith ever has been, and must be, the 
strength and consolation of those who do great things. In all grand en- 
terprises we may say with truth, ''According to your faith he it unto yon^' 
^■Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'' 

As patriots, it seems to me. that all good citizens must desire to pro- 
mote the great work which I have advocated. Tf the North and South 
can agree in so sublime an enterprise, not only must the selectcst blessings 
of God rest upon this nation, but the very co-operation would bind the 
members of this Union together by the closest and most delightful bands. 
Instead of discord and strife, how pleasant a sight to see brethren, from 
every portion of this great commonwealth, consenting to make disinterest- 
ed sacrifiesj consulting as to the best means of atoning for the wrongs done 
by their forefathers to an unoffending race; over the very highway once 
vexed and cursed by the keel of the slave ship, sending our stars and 
stripes to restore to Africa her long lost children — and restore them, not 
as they came, utterly imbruted, but, by God's blessing overruling the 
mercenary spirit of man, civilized, enlightened, converted and qualified 
to regenerate and reclaim that degraded continent. 

Mr. Chairman, such a scheme would perpetuate this great Kepublic. 
Not esto, but erit jjerpetua might be written upon the noble monument 
erecting on the common yonder.* But, sir, if something practical and 
effectual be not done, vainly shall we cry, 'Peace,' 'Peace,' when there is 
no peace. As the Roman augurs explored the bowels of their victims for 
the signs of coming events, .so, to predict the future destiny of a nation, 
we must not look at the surface of society, we must search into the heart 
of things, we must study the hidden principles, and motives, and feelings, 
of the people. And, looking to these, no one, it seems to me, can love this 
country much, without fearing much. 

For my part, bora at the South, educated at the North, intimately ac- 
quainted with the seutiments of the South and North, and residing where 
I am daily in contact with the feelings of North and South, I utter my 
most solemn convictions when I say, that the elements of danger, the 
ignes sujjpositi cineri doloso, are under our feet. Unless something be 
done, this Union cannot. I fear, be saved from the agitation of the slavery 

* The Washington Monument. 



17 

question, aud (which may Heaven avert!) from civil conflict. Your days, 
sir, are almost numbered. Your venerable head will soon be reposing in 
the tomb, and the shock and tumult of a fratricidal war will not disturb 
your long, last, sleep. But some of us may be young enough to see that 
dismal hour. Unless something be done, the noble column yonder may 
rear itself to heaven only to have inscribed upon it the epitaph of this 
nation. Or rather, it had better remain as it is; it had better never be 
completed. It had better be left like those unfinished pillars which we 
see in our grave yards, the mutilated shaft telling of a life broken ofi' in 
the midst — its hopes, its promises, its destiny, all suddenly blasted. 

I love my country, I love this Union. May God spread over it the 
banner of his 2:)rotection ! But, sir, much as I love my country, I finish 
by repeating what I said before. I love man more. And it is as one of 
the greatest of all the achievements of philanthropy, that I most ardently 
wish success to Colonization. In this view, its dignity, its sublimity, 
transcend all language, all thought. Its object is the noblest upon earth. 
Statesmen and conquerors, who control the outward policy of kingdoms, 
have no greatness when compared with the humblest individual who en- 
lightens and saves a human spirit. Such a man works upon imperishable 
materials, and works for eternity. In him is fulfilled that saying of the 
Redeemer, '' The glory which thou gavest me, have I given them." He 
shares with Jesus his most resplendent honor, that of rescuing and regen- 
erating the human soul 5 of raising it from degradation and perdition to 
an ever-growing immortality, an immortality which shall still be expand- 
ing and brightening when all the vain records of this earth shall have 
been forgotten, when the stiirs shall have burned out, and the sun itself 
shall have been extinguished. 



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